Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia
Alta Badia is in the province of Sudtirol . It is composed of five villages: Badia, La Villa, San Casiano, Corvara and Colfosco. Alta Badia is a great starting point if you want to go around the Sella Ronda. The Sella Ronda is a circuit that goes around the Sella massif. Now is the time to start planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
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How to get to Alta Badia- Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
By Plane
Arrive in Innsbruck, Verona, Venice, Bergamo, or if not Milano Linate or Malpensa. Then drive to the route del Brennero north and get off. From Innsbruck drive south to the Brenner Pass. Soon after passing it, you’ll find directions to Alta Badia on the east of the route del Brennero.
By Car
From Austria: Drive south to the Brenner Pass. When you pass it, follow the route del Brennero, and you’ll find the exit to Alta Badia which will lie to your left.
From Verona, drive north to the Route del Brennero. Before arriving into the crossing with Austria, you’ll be able to turn right to Alta Badia.
Summer season in Alta Badia. Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
Alta Badia will open lifts on the 27th June and close on 27th September. The Gardenaccia lift will close one week later, on 4th October.
The Alta Badia Summer Card. Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
The Alta Badia Summer Card includes use of all the lifts in the region. The price starts at EUR 54 per adult and EUR 28 per child (8-18 years old). Under 8ts go free. A three out of four days start at EUR 68 per adult and EUR 48 per child for a five out of seven days.
E-Biking excursions at 2,000 metres. Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
If using a push bike is not your thing, you can ride the lifts up and enjoy lots of adrenaline coming down. More on this later. But also, you can hire an e-bike on the Piz Sorega, Piz La Ila or Col Alto plateau, and enjoy an easier ride. Or rent any bike in town and take them up on the lifts! Those not wanting to do much exercise, might enjoy this option. They will be able to ride with amazing views of the Dolomites.
Read more about e-biking in Alta Badia here.
Mountain Biking and the Movimënt Area. Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
A new Movimënt Biking Area has opened for those looking for more adrenaline. These are downhill trails dedicated to mountain bikes and also e-bikes this year. These trails, with parabolic bends and jumps, are for bikers only. La Fraina will offer a new trail this year under the lift. The blue/easy trail will be 2,000 m long and will have a 193 metre difference in altitude. The other trails are at Piz Sorega and Pralongiá,
As La Fraina and Bamby chairlifts will open, you will be able to connect the Piz Sorega and Piz La Lla to the ski lifts. You can load baby prams and bikes on the lifts. The idea is to use less cars to connect San Cassiano and La Villa.
As I’ve written before, Alta Badia is a great starting point to do the Sellaronda on mountainbike. You can go high up on the lift, and then you can tackle the breathtaking descents and single tracks. You can choose to do the loop clockwise or counter-clockwise. You should hire an expert mountain-bike guide to do this.
Picnic on the Mountains. Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
With social distancing this summer, how can you still eat in the great outdoors? Well, picnics in the mountains will be a very attractive option. But what if you want to do some hikes and not carry the food with you? In Alta Badia, some of the on-mountain rifugios will offer their local specialties.
Ten rifugios are participating of this offer. You will go and pick up the baskets from these participating rifugios. The basket will come with a blanket. You will then be able to choose a great location on the pastures at more than 2,000 m of altitude. After finishing, you need to pick up the rubbish and take the basket back to the rifugio. In this way, you will leave all as pristine as you’ve found it.
You can buy these different basket in advance or on the same day from the following rifugios or Ütias:
Ütia Crëp de Munt:
They offer:
Local sliced meats and cheeses, dumplings salad with “turtres” (local speciality, fried pastry filled with ricotta cheese and spinach or sauerkraut), apple strudel.
Ütia I Tablá:
Appetizer based on speck, smoked salami, local cheeses and bread, BIO barley salad, Alto Adige natural yoghurt with blueberry compote, Alto Adige apple.
Ütia Pralongiá:
Fresh goat cheese wrapped in speck on salad with a honey dressing, venison ham, stewed sauerkraut and “föies da soni” (fried potatoes pastry), local yoghurt with wild berries and crumble.
Ütia de Bioch:
Speck, smoked salami, pickles, hard boiled egg, horseradish, apple, cheese, bread, barley soup and “turtres”, Linzer cake.
Ütia Jimmi:
Fresh cheese with mountain herbs, walnuts, tomatoes preserved in oil and local salami, venison burger, rustic bread, sauerkraut salad with crunchy speck, mayonnaise with juniper aroma, local venison meat, hazelnut tart with wild berry jam.
Ütia Saraghes:
Appetizer with mixed cold meats made by “Lüch da Ciampidel farm”, including speck and cold salami, mixed salad leaves with fresh local cheese, hard boiled eggs (from free range chickens from a local farm) and smoked ham with an aromatic herb dressing, homemade chocolate and hazelnut cake with red currant jam.
Ütia Lée:
Summer salad with strips of beef, wrap with speck and Fodom-cheese, carrot cake.
Ütia Las Vegas:
Mixed salad with Mozzarella cheese, Püccia bread with cutlet, Linzer cake.
Ütia Franz Kostner:
Mixed appetizer of local products, “Piz da Lech” pasta salad, dessert of the mountaineer.
Ütia Boconara:
Boconara appetizer with cold meats, own smoked salami, local cheeses, spelt salad, fruit salad or strudel.
The rifugios will sanitise the baskets between uses.
Prices range from 20 to 28 EUR per person depending on the menu selection.
For further information contact: Alta Badia Tourist Information Offices
Where to Stay in Alta Badia. Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
Hotels in Alta Badia are amazing and cater to all. Many hotels are starting now to welcome back guests.
You can stay in any of the six villages of Alta Badia and connect to the other ones via chairlifts or cablecars. The views are amazing wherever you see. The pink afterglow or Enrosadira, adds to the spectacle every evening in Alta Badia.
The Enrosadira is the phenomenon that the Dolomites peaks have when they turn pink at dawn or dusk. They later turn into violet before dusk. The term is Ladin (the ancient language of the inhabitants of the Dolomites). In Ladin it means ‘turning pink’.
Which hotels I can recommend you. Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
Located in the village of San Cassiano. This hotel is a destination for foodies. It’s restaurant St Hubertus, of Norbert Niederkofler has 3 Michelin stars. The restaurant will open on 9th July. Niederkofler uses local mountain ingredients. The family Pizzini runs the hotel. Rooms have log burner fires and private terrace over the Dolomites. There are some private apartments, as well as the Chalet Zeno, that can cater to 8 guests. Patrons can dine also at the Rosa Alpina’s mountain hut. Another option is to eat at the casual Rosa Alpina Wine Bar & Grill or Fondue restaurant.
In the middle of Corvara, La Perla has the largest private collection of Sassicaia on the planet. It’s wine cellar is amazing, ask to go and visit it. It might surprise you is that Frank Zappa sings in the background to keep the bottles happy.
The hotel offers 54 well appointed rooms and is part of the “Leading Hotels of the World”. The Costa family owns the hotel. Nicola Laerea takes care of the kitchen of the one starred Michelin restaurant. A mecca for cyclists who meet at the Dogma Pinarello lounge, where you can see exhibited some great bikes. Meanwhile, the ski après fans meet at L’Murin in winter and people gather on the al fresco lawn for drinks in the summer.
Check also all the amazing collections of stuff (plates, keys, clocks, you name it), that the owner have in the hotel!
Mi Chalet is a stylish chalet for two in La Villa, built in 2018 by Karl Heinz Castlunger. The chalet offers panoramic views of the Dolomite Mountains. Lots of hiking trails leave from its doorstep. Karl’s wife, interior designer Angjesusann Castlunger, has decorated the interior. The chalet offers a double bedroom, bathroom, an equipped kitchen and infrared sauna. The sitting room offers a four metres high ceilings. Big panoramic windows shows you the outdoors. A hanging log burner chimney invites you to cosy up.
Outside there is a pretty terrace with a hot tub. Two free range alpacas, Coco and Chanel might come to say hello. The property include daily delivered breakfasts. You can book a private chef, driver, masseuse or hiking guide. Guests can also swim in the outdoor pool. And visit the facilities of the neighbouring Dolomit Boutique Hotel
Located in the town of Badia, this is a bike friendly hotel. Its’ owner Klaus Irsara, is a passionate of the two wheels. He can guide you on where to go and all kind of things you should know in the area. This is a 3 stars superior hotel that is very ample, with soft wood colours and nice service.
All rooms view to the Monte Gardenaccia or Monte Santa Croce. The hotel offers a wellness with Finnish sauna, steam bath, herbal sauna or infrared sauna. Also some waterbeds to relax after an intense day outside. Massages are optional. A full gym is also on offer.
Other Hotels that deserve to be in the list.
Located a bit out of San Cassiano, this beautiful hotel will spoil you. I had the chance to go for dinner there once. We started in the cave downstairs having cold cuts and tasting some marvellous wines. From there, we went on to have a dinner of several dishes. And to finish, they took us to their own chocolate store. We could choose what we wanted. Plus they did us a pistachios ice-cream dipped in their chocolate fountain! Yummy. We’ve finished trying some aguardientes (I could not try anything else by then). But the others seemed not to care. We were all around a fire pit outside in the garden under a starred night. Rooms are lovely and the spa is very inviting too.
Located in the start of Corvara, the hotel is 450 yards from the lifts. I had the pleasure to visit once on a fam trip and it was our second hotel around 10.30 am. The person taking us insisted it was time for an aperitivo. For me it would have been for a coffee but I accepted. Anyways, it was lovely, we were all happy by our next meeting that was lunch, as we did not manage to see more hotels.
The hotel was having some renewed rooms (this was 2017) and they look very inviting (for a nap by then!) The rooms were all decorated in warm wooden tone walls and they looked amazing. The hotel has two large buildings connected by a corridor. The spa has an indoor pool, Finnish sauna and Turkish bath.
Another five stars hotel, located a 10-minute walk from the centre of Corvara. Cross country trails start 5 minutes from the property. The hotel offers a shuttle bus to take guests to the nearest ski lifts, 3 minutes away. I had stayed here last year and it was very nice. My room was very big, with a lovely balcony to admire the outdoors. The spa is a lovely addition. I did not have dinner there but was in the bar before dining at La Perla, but the breakfast buffet was lovely.
Located before getting into the Gardena pass that takes you to Val Gardena. I thought this hotel was lovely. Lots of wood in its décor, which it makes it very cosy. We went for lunch, it has an outdoor lunch terrace by the road. You can see the cars or bikes venturing out to the Gardena Pass. Very near lifts to start the Sella Ronda (you have to only cross the road). There is hot tubs and an indoor pool in the spa.
This is a great four stars hotel thanks to its location. You are next to the Piz La lla ski lifts in La Villa in Badia. Rooms are ample and comfortable, the views of the mountains from all sides are majestic, and the spa is great. You have the meals included at dinner with salad, and three courses which is great. Also the bar serves great Hugos, the amazing aperitivo from South Tyrol. I’ve heard it comes from Germany.
Ski school is next to the hotel, so this is a great family hotel. The family that runs it is super friendly. The owner woke up very early when we were leaving around 6 AM and packed us some breakfast for the road to the airport.
You might want to read the Must-Read Guide to Summer in South Tyrol.
Here you’ll find much more detailed in other things to do in all the province of Sudtirol or South Tyrol (as you call it in winter).
You can search for your own accommodation in the snow for your next ski holiday through our Accommodation Search tab. Or if looking to stay in the heart of the Mont Blanc Valley in the Aosta Valley, check Il Coure della Valdigne review here. This is our own family home in the mountains, that I am renting out when not using, you can always write me a private message if interested to info@the-ski-guru.com
If you want to take your family skiing and you don’t know where to start, read here. And search for your ski transfers from all airports to the Mountains here. And for those that are like me, that are lazy to cook, you can get your food, even gourmet mountain food delivered to your home with Huski.
If renting equipment (skis or snowboards) check our agreement with Skiset– you can get up to 50% off ski or snowboard rental rates. I have been using them for years every year when I go to America and Europe and they are great!
You can start thinking about your trip, by reading the articles on the Planning your Ski Trip tab. Or how to pack for your family ski trip. If taking your furry friend abroad to the continent, read about the new Pet Travel Scheme update from DEFRA. Self-drive skiers also need to plan for Brexit. Check out our tips for driving to the mountains. If flying and renting a car in Europe, beware of the extra charges they will pass to you if you want winter tyres, snow chains or ski racks. If driving, check the winter tyres news for Europe and North America. You can see how our last family ski holiday was not as expected, even though one plans it to be a success, but how we could do the most of it. If you want to get better before getting to your next ski holiday, here is a quick guide to indoor skiing and dry slopes in the UK. You can also read our week in the mountains during our summer holidays in Courmayeur.
Featured Image: Alta Badia. Sas dla Crusc Lavarela. Photo: Ffreddy Planinschek. Alta Badia Tourism Office. Planning your summer in the mountains of Alta Badia.
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